Normally the coin toss at the Super Bowl has about as much excitement as forgetting to actually watch the coin toss, but this year was a little different thanks to Papa John’s. Papa John’s thought they would be a big shot this year and offered up free pizza and Pepsi Max sodas on the 50 percent chance that America would pick the wrong side of the coin, and was betting millions of dollars in advertising and free product on this bet. Well, America was right this year, and heads was the result so free pizza for all right? Not so fast America, at least this is my story of how Papa John’s denied me a free pizza.
A few days before the Super Bowl (maybe a week or so), I took the time to enter the Papa John’s contest and I picked heads. When I entered the contest online, the website specifically said something to the effect of, “Thank you for entering your vote, if the majority picks right you will win free pizza.” Well, Super Bowl Sunday came and when the coin toss came up heads, I was genuinely excited to be getting my free pizza, as Papa John’s is just as good as most chain store pizzas (at least it was). According to the website during the game, it said people would get an email some time on Monday telling them how to redeem their free pizza and Pepsi Max, and I couldn’t have been happier to be getting something for free.
After 6 p.m. Monday, I checked back on their Facebook page and it said, “Please be patient, your email will be coming in the next few hours”, so I figured no big deal, I can’t wait a little. By 6 p.m. Tuesday, I checked back on their Facebook page and it said, “All emails have now been distributed, please check your spam filter.” With that said, I checked my spam filter, and guess what I found? Several pornographic website ads, several offers for cheap medication, and several nice Nigerian dignitaries telling me I may been entitled to millions of dollars but still nothing from Papa John’s. When I checked back on the Facebook page, I noticed a couple of people were nice enough to put up the website for where to claim my prize (http://papajohns.promo.eprize.com/coin/) and was genuinely excited again.
Once I clicked on the website, I put in my email address and the characters I saw in the box, clicked off that I was over 13 and here comes my free pizza right? Nope, apparently I’m not a Papa John’s Rewards Member. This begs the question, why did Papa John’s tell me directly that I was now entered into the contest for a free pizza? I tried contacting Papa John’s, but they have yet to get back to me, as I doubt I will get my free pizza or soda basically on a technicality. My question to Papa John’s is, if you told me I’d get a free pizza if I was right when I entered the contest, and my vote counted towards the total of heads votes, why didn’t you tell me when I entered I didn’t have the right credentials to get a free pizza? I would have gladly taken the time to be one of your precious Papa John’s reward members, but you told me I was entered into the contest, so why would I think otherwise?
I guess this goes to show that nothing in life is free, and always read the fine print. The other thing this means is that I will be boycotting Papa John’s pizza until I get my free pizza (I’ll even concede the soda), as offering me 25 percent off your pizza just isn’t good enough (as it says on the link once I entered my email address), and it’s the principle of the matter involved more than anything else that has me upset. It’s bad enough that it was only about a month ago Papa John’s was apologizing to the Asian community over the receipt in New York City that referred to one of their customers as “lady chinky eyes”, but I guess if they’re looking for more bad publicity this article might add some fuel to the fire. So next time you want to open up your mouth and offer free pizza on a 50 percent proposition bet, maybe you won’t screw over a guy looking to cash in a free pizza dinner for his family that never came to fruition. Thanks for nothing Papa John’s.